Defence

Boeing will build or remanufacture up to 215 CH-47 Chinooks up to 2014 under a new $4.3 billion package of deals signed by the US Army.

The package includes a five-year contract worth $3.8 billion for 181 CH-47Fs, a supplemental contract for another 10 helicopters and an option to buy 24 more, says Lt Col Thomas Todd, the army's programme manager for CH-47.

Locking in the multi-year procurement deal reduces the cost of the entire purchase by $449 million, or slightly more than 10% of the total value. The average cost per aircraft now amounts to $20 million.

The confirmed order includes 109 new-build aircraft and 72 "re-new" models, of which the latter are remanufactured airframes built with mostly new parts, says Todd. The US Congress authorised the long-term contract last December and the army began negotiations earlier this year, he adds.

Boeing has received the multi-year deal unusually early in the production cycle for the CH-47F. So far, only 48 CH-47Fs have been delivered to the army, which plans to buy 452 over the life of the programme.

Foreign interest in the CH-47F is also starting to pick up again, says Jack Daugherty, Boeing's director for Chinook helicopter programmes.

The Netherlands is on contract to receive six CH-47Fs, with the first delivery scheduled in the first quarter of 2009, and Boeing is negotiating a deal with Canada for 16 aircraft. Italy is also discussing an order for 16 aircraft, plus four options, with Boeing and AgustaWestland having formed a team to build the aircraft in-country.

An undisclosed buyer in the Middle East has also bought four CH-47s and the US government has also received a letter of request from Egypt, Daugherty says.

Finally, the HH-47 remains in contention for a US Air Force contract. The combat search and rescue contract was originally awarded to Boeing in November 2006, but was overturned by the US Government Accountability Office. A new contract award is scheduled by the end of the year, with the Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland US101 and Sikorsky HH-92 also competing.